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Saturday, May 31, 2008

Kayak (part 2)

We made two stops during the trip. 1st pit-stop : Kampung Danu.
An old couple that were collecting pebbles & they were not locals:The MOST LUCKY 4 persons in the world that was bestowed with leaking kayak:
We took a little walking tour of the kampung. Actually, it's not so "kampung" anymore lar... look at their house .... bigger than mine wei....This suspension bridge is the only way to get to/from this village:
ah... noticed the locals having FUN in their natural swimming pool??

Taking group photos r veli the ma-fan de... so hard to get everybody ready & posed at the same time.
Take 1: Failed!!
(Colin
shy so was looking down, Louis in pain (I guessed by the position of his hand) & Margaret was busy pointing at some hensome guy, while me..well still munching away like a porky)
Take 2: Failed again!!
(Colin showing his BIG package & Louis was smiling for his LUCK, the girl in front of him might b the reason)
Take 3: Finally OK!!
(although Louis tongue was busy but nvm lar ...)
heheh... Pretending to be shopping (photo on the left) & the LUCKY geng poses again 4 ur entertainment:
There's no toilets around so when nature called, the discreet way was pretending to go for a swim & relieved ourselves into the river (don't lie ... u all did it 2, din u??). Hehehe... FREE urine shower gel le ... for those lucky ppl bathing downstream:
The cleanliness of this kampung is TOP rate:After the so-called tour (as I answered "NO" to all of Azmi questions whether I saw the rubber?? Pepper ?? or Cocoa??? dang.. I must hav passed by all those without realizing it), our battery were recharged, thus excitedly continue on our journey:The river we kayaked on was really very picturesque, worthy even as wallpaper, don't u think??The most heart pump section of the river that we kayak through. The river was narrower, water was shallow, with rocks around that created mini water falls, or more appropriately known as rapids. I totally loved the rush that I felt while getting through it:
Further downstream, we stop at a small sandy beach where we had our lunch (which consist of 1 giant yummy pok-piah & sandwich). After lunch, a few of us jump into the water for a nice swim!!
Spot me spot me ...
After the FUN in the water, we reluctantly continued our journey. Actually the thunder & rain was the final push for all to jump into the kayak.

Once in a while, I let the kayak drifts down following the current and just absorb the beauty & wonderful shapes of rocky outcrop by the river bank:
The "all natural" carved out stone banks are especially prominent in the many curves and bends of the river.
And here's Mount Cone Head (heheh .. following the Thai tradition of naming the mountain according to their shape):ok ok... I need to confess something, the above 3 photos were not taken during this trip because IT RAINed SO HARD after the last stop. man ... I was soaking wet for the rest of the journey as rain poured down like there's no tomorrow. Everybody just kept on paddling and everything was a blur to me, really (duh ... I wear glasses).

But I was lucky bcoz Azmi did paddled towards 1 of the huge stone so that I can touched it. Once he even paddled under the hanging rocks & showed me some bird nest...

My experienced, reliable, fabulous & really strong kayak partner & me (still soaking wet):
yay... safely arrived at Kampung Semadang at ~3.30pm. Every1 helped out in carrying the kayak up those steep steps... again by every1, it's actually just the Strong Guys...
After getting down from the kayak then I realize my poor butt was numb thanks to the non-existent-seat-padding of the kayak.
Here's the view from the bridge :
Well, the guide pop open a portable changing room. Even if it's rather bright & slightly transparent, I wanna just take off those wet clothes & changed into dry ones as we were freezing by now. But unfortunately, we had to wait for more than 1 hour for our clothes (the drivers were sent to get their cars). This was the only view available while waiting for our dry clothes:Finally the kayaks are back on the van's roof:The only casualty for the day was mrtoilet's (left side) slipper. I send my deepest condolence. Dear mrtoilet, please don't dwell on the past but instead find a new 1 & carry on: I had tons of FUN kayaking downstream from Bengoh, to Semadang Village, despite the rain. It was exhausting but a really worthwhile experience.

It's a perfect way to spent the day, out in the open, drifting down a clear, clean tranquil river, just taking some time out to do something out of the ordinary.

Friday, May 30, 2008

kayak (part 1)

Last Saturday (24th May 08) was a kayak day for me & a few work friends! And by a few I meant 22 ppl only :) Good job LengChai for organizing this trip. I finally have the chance to kayak, at Borneo Highlands, Kuching some more. Thanks for feasting my eyes on the beautiful Sarawak River, even though its chokolet in color lar.

SexyLips pick me up at 7.15am. He was even kind enuf to provide morning call service... hehe. Arrangements was made to meet our guide at a 10th mile Kopitiam (opposite MBKS) that served the Most Expensive Normal Ko Lo Mee at RM4.00... sigh...

That's us, 6 cars all together following the van with the kayak to the starting point of our adventure:The road was good except for a few section of the road where there are huge holes. And the scenery on our way there was very "GREEN". But it rained which made me anxious.

This is our start point at Kampung Benguh, a Bidayuh Village. I took this while it was still drizzling. Stop raining liau lar... I know I prayed for a "not too sunny day" but I don't want a "not too sunny but annoying drizzling day"
yay... NEW paddles... I was eying it like a hawk... must grab it 1st... I'm so Kia Su sometimes:hhmmppphhh.... we were called "auntie" :~( as among the "wiser generation" in the group of not-as-wise-kids, but that did not dampen my mood... u kids all watch out, I'm gonna kick ur soli little ass on the kayak... muahahaha
Before the adventure start, **look at our smile** we so happily sign the WAIVER AND RELEASE OF LIABILITY form Azmi slip us to fill and leaving our fate to the heavens...
This is the BEFORE Photo Shoot of the Happy LT Family. yo SexyLips, what's your hand doin there???
After applying layers of sunblock (& some1 even put on those disgusting smelling insert-repellent) & putting on our life jackets, 1 more shot of us.. yea. ..we admit we all r camwhore...
Azmi & crew then demonstrated to us the correct way to paddle and how to steer the kayak on the ROAD, really. We even have to let car pass by sometimes... yea, we are always these cool:
But the problem was, after the demonstration, I still din know how to paddle & steer bcoz we were busy monkeying around:We were also advised 2 put all priceless belongings into the *cool* waterproof tote bags in case of any stunt show like kayak acrobat.We began to make our way down to the river with our kayaks. By we, I actually meant the GUYs carried the kayak down to the river bcoz it's the given privilege for the gentleman. Thank you guys.
Then the girls cat walk (so slippery can die) down the river with the stylish paddle. I was color co-ordinated too, yellow paddle, orange life-jacket, pink t-shirt & red tot bag. If I die here, must die without fashion disaster adding to the description.Salivating Gentlemen all waiting by the river bank, even got 1 that can't help but whistle loudly too. Can guess who's the color wolf??ah.... I miss this kind of stream, with pretty pebbles & icy cool clear mountain water. When I was a kid during the weekend, my parent will bring us to Sungai Raya, about 10km from Sri Aman (where I grew up) for a dipped & sometimes I'll tag along my mum looking for bamboo shoot by the river bank. My dad will start a fire for BBQ'ing the corn or potato. ah... that's why I would not changed my parent for any other in the world. They r da BEST. eh... soli, suddenly keluar tajuk pulak...Once at the edge of the water, we were told the term was ‘put-in’, that is – putting the kayak onto water. We expect to kayak downstream from here and to reach Semadang Village in 4 hours time. yay ... the kiasu me chose the NEWEST & most pretty rainbow kayak & quickly jump into position:
Look out...serious girl power coming through. Now if I could only figure out how to steer this thing man... We played kayak bumper cars for about the first 15 minutes as we all me & partner tried to figure out what we were doing. I was in the front of a 2 person kayak and I had absolutely no idea how to steer the thing. My partner in crime, SexyLips was having a GREAT TIME too with me screaming non-stop since start point as we keep ramming into big rocks, kayu la, other kayak etc., Plus the water at the beginning was very shallow so we kept getting stuck. Then I realize everybody passed us & we were the last kayak although we were the 1st kayak to leave... so pai seh la...
At 1st I did not get to enjoy the view but just concentrate on NOT DOIN the KAYAK ACROBAT... only when we were further down where the river started to open up, the river was wider so it was harder to ram into anything that I started to enjoy the view. It's not only Nature at it's BEST but the view, it's simply breathtaking. The air was sweet without all the extra favor that we add-in from our car exhaust... muahhaha... my comment can b used for V1S1T M@L@YSI@ Ye@r 2oo8. Music were everywhere if you listen carefully, the sound of birds chipping, the humming of inserts & the sound of river flowing over the rocks.
One of the requirement while kayaking was splashing people with the chokolet river water. U should try it sometime. Just get close enough to the other kayak & start splashing using the paddle provided for bigger impact.Then the BEST THING happen, the river was flowing rather fast and there was a bend just in front of us but u know lar... our kopi license din help much & our kayak just kinda rammed the side river wall & in split seconds we succeed in performing the Kayak Acrobat. Cool... I was seeing things underwater. Well I just kinda flip with style & let the river flow carry me while gripping hard on the paddle (it's NEW & Expensive le). We're sweep to the shallow river side, totally wet, with a few bruises to remember this exciting event. I was still wearing my sunglasses babeh. While SexyLips lost his for a while but managed to grab it back but was bengkok oledi. We were the LAST, so nobody captured this special performance of ours, pity.

Then after getting on the kayak again after Azmi towed it to us, we kinda lose control of the kayak AGAIN which made me screamed towards Azmi that I wanted a change of partner. SexyLips was stabbing me with his piercing eyes but I don care anymore. I'm swapping SexyLips with the more experienced & reliable guide.

From then on, it was just JOY ride. Going through currents only required some steering, which I left to the professional.
More work was needed on still waters. Sometimes, a protruding drowned tree branch will gently claw the bottom of the kayak as u pass. Luckily I have a ‘motor’ sitting behind, so I can stop when I feel tired, which was often :)

911 rescue mission in progress, the 1st thing to save is the Paddle, it's new & expensive u know:
Swimming Malaysian Style, aka with all the clothes on... hehe. After Azmi came & inspect the kayak, found there was a big hole on the bottom of the kayak and was filled up with water. It was too heavy & unbalanced, that's why it capsized..
The guides flip over the kayak & let the water flowed out. Then like Mc. Gyver (SexyLips, it's pronounce as Mc-Guy-ver) the guides repaired the kayak using wood & branch from the trees. I was amazed. With that we managed to continued our journey. wee...
The river is banked by massive stones in some places, eroded by centuries of water to form rocky overhangs, a unique wave-like rock formations. I was fascinated & surprised to see so many bamboo plants along the river. According to Azmi, there are more than 50 types of bamboo around these area.
After a while, noticed the water level in the kayak has increased.

Me : Boss, a lot of water in the kayak lar...
Azmi: No lar, it's normal to have water in the kayak.

Then, as we were negotiating a bend, Azmi failed to avoid a protruding dead branch. The water level in the kayak has been worrying me.

Me: Boss, really a lot of water in the kayak...
Azmi: hmm... something is wrong, kayak getting harder to control. We better stop to check.

By then the 2 kayak in front of us has disappear. So we were alone. I help Azmi carried the kayak up the bank. Upon checking, the damage area causing the leak was exact same as the earlier capsized kayak. Too much co-incidence lar... Azmi indicated that it might have been damage while transporting it.
hai... I was the 1 who pick this kayak because it was NEW, again the Kia Su attitude in me, cannot help it mar.
"Keng X 3, Keng Tiok Chau Leng Ngen" = "choose X 3, end up with Rotten Longan"
That's how I got rewarded with a nice long rest on the beautiful river bank while Azmi was busy getting rid of the water trap inside & repairing the kayak with whatever was on hand and around that can be used, even plastic wrapper was not spared...
After McGyver completed his mission, we were back on the kayak and revving to go. Soon we caught up to SexyLips & SexyBum, actually they were waiting for us. SexyBum was starting to imagine BAD stuff happening bcoz I disappeared for so long... I laugh when they tot I might been rape or something... siau... very rich in imagination...

to be continue ...